The fire ceremonies – so beautiful and memorable!

(Rishikesh, India, 10th of Sep 2016)

Other highlights of the week has been the fire cermonies at the retreat. Before breakfast and dinner, we gathered and sacrificed and sung to the Ganesha god. The music came from a cellphone and sang did those who knew the words, which were those with Indian origin and those who had stayed at the retreat for a long time. All clapped their hands following the rhythm of the music and then a plate with incense, fire (a candle) and offerings was sent around among the participants. Each person took the plate and went up to Ganesha and moved the barrel in a circular motion that must be clockwise. After the ceremony everybody got a red dot on the forehead which was gilded with some grains and ended with a few flowers thrown over each person’s head.

When participants start their yoga teacher training courses at the retreat there is a fire ceremony with a holy priest. Though we were not part of any course we were invited to take part in this session. We all gathered in one of the yoga halls and were placed in two circles. In the inner circle the staff of the retreat sat with Deepa – a woman who appeared to be the leader of the retreat. In the center of the circle was a furnace positioned with a number of small sticks at the top. We were told that in India you have a fire ceremony every time you start something new in order to protect those involved and ensure that everything goes well. A holy priest held the ceremony by singing constantly for more than an hour while he offered various spices, ghee and flowers in to the fire. In a particular order spices and flowers were handed out, first to the participants in the inner circle and then to all of us. At the same time there was a person who went around and tied yellow-red strings around each person’s wrist – a symbol of protection and love (we googled it after the ceremony). The flowers were collected and the spices we sacrificed in to the fire. We also got to “wave the plate” as Johan calls it – that is spinning a platter with fire and offerings in front of the fire, just as we did every morning and evening. And then all of us got a dot on the forehead with rice and flowers. The whole ceremony was very beautiful and evocative. In the end everyone went to the priest and got  a wreath of flowers and an offering consisting of a banana and a small cake, like Halwa.

The largest ceremony we attended during the week was the Ganga Arti, a fire ceremony held every evening between six and seven down by the Ganges river. We left the retreat a bit late (what is it about India and planning…) so when we arrived the ceremony had already started and the monks had started to sing and the fire was lit.

We had to leave our shoes in some kind of organized shoe closet – we gave our shoes to a man behind a fence and got a brick with a number. No cost and very organized.

The ceremony took place on a large open space right by the Ganges. The audience consisted to 90 % of Indian people and the rest were foreign tourists. Many Indians strive to once in a life to come to Rishikesh to participate in this ceremony – so it is a really important one. Later we were told that, until a year ago, there had been a great Krishna statue right on the water that has been washed away by the tide. In the center of the crowd sat a large number of young monks in orange clothing and with them a number of fires. I (Christel) had, with the help of one of our Indian guides, found a place to sit on a mat on the ground, amidst all Indians. Absolutely wonderful! Johan remained a few steps up to photograph it all.

The chanting lasted until the clock was approaching seven o´clock and then a number of pitchers with fire started to circulate among the audience. All stood up and stretched their hands after the pitchers. I got some really nice photos of this!

Ganga Arti was truly an experience – exotic, magical and beautiful! After the ceremony we went to look at a giant statue of the monkey god, Hanuman. The experience ended with a visit to a small temple where we receieved red dots on our foreheads.